Three years ago Ahnaw* collapsed on the floor of her house in a small rural village in eastern Myanmar. When she came to, she realised she was bleeding heavily from what turned out to be a miscarriage. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant,” the 36-year-old recalls, seated in front of a Buddhist shrine in her living room. “They told me when I got to the hospital. They said I was lucky to survive.” As a result of her experience, Ahnaw is now part of an International Rescue Committee programme that trains hundreds of women in Myanmar’s Kayin state to become advocates for birth-spacing and safe pregnancies. These “mother support groups” spread their messages in village gatherings or by going door-to-door, targeting families with many children or young families with children born in quick succession.

On the 8th of March - International Women's Day - here are 8 steps decision makers must take to support women and girls fighting for their rights in the most difficult places on Earth.

Ma J Nan was displaced from her home in Man Ga Laung village four years ago by armed conflict. She was a farmer. She lived in a bamboo house. Her family fled with her, and she was left with just her clothes.

Dilmia R. had built a home for herself and her two young daughters in her native El Salvador when the threat of violence forced her to flee in 2011.